Three members of the Expedition 31 crew undocked from the International Space Station and returned safely to Earth Sunday, July 1, wrapping up a mission that lasted six-and-a-half months.
On This Week at NASA we have the following stories: The International Space Station and its benefit to science as the world's only laboratory in microgravity is highlighted on Capitol Hill. Also, NASA administrator Charles Bolden Finds NEEMO; JPL has its annual Open House; Cleveland HUBZone; African Cosmos; Aerospace Scholars; NASA Now Emmy; SOI; and more!
Activities for new Expedition 31 crewmembers, Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka, NASA Flight Engineer Joe Acaba and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin include a pre-launch fit check in a Soyuz capsule at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the raising of flags outside the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters and launch to the orbiting laboratory to meet up with NASA Astronaut Don Pettit, Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Andre Kuipers of the European Space Agency.
Leader and researchers of the partners in the International Space Station (ISS) gathered in Berlin this week for the ISS Symposium 2012 to celebrate the completion of the ISS and to discuss the future path and priorities for research on the ISS. The three-day symposium covered case-studies in fundamental and applied research and the actual or potential spin-offs for the benefit of humankind.
SpaceRef had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Leroy Chiao at the 28th National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. Dr. Chiao is a veteran of four flights into space and was the Expedition 10 commander and NASA science officer on his last mission to the International Space Station.
NASA is seeking formal and informal education organizations to host live in-flight interactive conversations between the next generation of explorers and astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Increased scrutiny has been focused on The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the non-profit organization chosen by NASA to manage its research assets aboard the International Space Station.
Aurora Australis, seen at right on Earth's horizon, and daybreak (left) highlight this "busy" photograph taken by one of the Expedition 30 crew members aboard the International Space Station.
Early Sunday morning, at 01:27 our time, the San Antonio Astronomical Association, an amateur astronomy group, succeeded in flashing the space station with a one-watt blue laser and a white spotlight as we passed overhead. This took a number of engineering calculations. Projected beam diameters (assuming the propagation of a Gaussian wave for the laser) and intensity at the target had to be calculated.
Ice cover on Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 30 crew member on the International Space Station. This striking photograph illustrates the harsh winter conditions frequently experienced in North Dakota.
Agricultural patterns in Quebec, Canada are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 30 crew member on the International Space Station. The region shown in the image, known as the Chaudiere-Appalaches, is located midway between Quebec City (the provincial capital) and the international border with the United States (specifically, the State of Maine).
NASA and the American Physical Society (APS) have begun a partnership to share videos from the International Space Station with students, educators and science fans around the world.
Majorca in the Balearic Islands (Spain) is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 30 crew member aboard the International Space Station. The Balearic Islands are an archipelago located to the southwest of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea.
This almost vertical scene of the Persian Gulf was photographed by one of the Expedition 30 crew members aboard the International Space Station on Dec. 30, 2011. A Russian spacecraft, docked to the orbital outpost, is seen at left edge of frame.
This photo showing the Manicouagan Reservoir in Quebec, Canada, was photographed by one of the Expedition 30 crew members aboard the International Space Station.
This infrared view shows the Bahamas' Long Island (left) and parts of Little and Great Exuma (right). It was photographed as part of an experiment by one of the Expedition 30 crew members aboard the International Space Station on Jan. 17, 2012.
The Payun Matru Volcanic Field in Argentina is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 30 crew member on the International Space Station.
This nighttime panorama of much of the land mass of the eastern two-thirds of the contiguous United States was photographed by crew members aboard the International Space Station as it was moving over the Gulf of Mexico on Jan. 29, 2012.
On April 2, Skvortsov, Kornienko, and Caldwell Dyson will launch to the station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. They will dock to the space station on April 4, joining Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, who arrived on the station in December as part of Expedition 22.